The Girl in the Asylum
by Galacticexplorer12
Summary: While in the loony bin, Zack Addy witnesses a new girl enter the asylum. Shock hits him when he discovers that the girl is the famous Alice from those fairytales. But their lives are intertwining in another world. Neither of them can make a head or tail out of this, but they'd better sort this out before insanity becomes reality.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

Commotion was made in the asylum that day. The staff continued to talk about a new arrival, and her sanity seemed beyond hope. Zach Addy listened with great interest from his room. He heard a car pull up in the snow. He turned. Out stepped a girl in her teenage years, brown hair, and piercing green eyes. She was wearing a blue dress and some kind of apron over it. In her hand was a briefcase, and a little black cat followed her.

"If she doesn't get better soon, she'll have to be moved, again." The nurse said. The door creaked open. The girl was taken directly to her new room, next door to Dr. Addy's. After that moment, no one talked about the new girl that day.

As far as Zach knew, all the girl did was lie on her bed, motionless. But to Zach's surprise, the girl was much more interesting than he imagined. She wouldn't move, and it didn't seem like she would. She just stared up at the ceiling, thinking. From what he heard, she had to be force-fed, and she almost bit the fingers off the one responsible for it. Whenever Zach was allowed out, he tried to look at the girl. They called her 'Alice'.

One day, when Zach was let out of his room, he saw another staff member trying to coax her out. "Come on, sweetheart. The sun is out." He heard him say. Alice did not respond. Another nurse walked in.

"Don't bother," She said. "That poor girl's beyond help."

"You do know that if things don't work out here, she'll have to go to Rutledge Asylum."

"The only reason she's in America is because she was kidnapped. We'll get her out of country ASAP. But until that happens, she stays here." Forgetting that Zach was still there, they left. Zach slipped through the open door and stared at her. She blinked. Her emerald green eyes stared at the ceiling. They seemed lifeless, but Zach could almost see a bonfire of madness swirling through them. The eyes sparked with ferocity, and sheer terror.

"Something's… broken…" She whispered. The male staff member who was there moments ago overheard her. He ran into the room and shoved Zach aside. "Something's broken…" She repeated, only louder.

"Keep her talking!" The other nurse snapped.

"What's broken, Alice?" And then, pure horror struck Zach as she replied.

"_I am_." Zach suddenly saw her eye, her emerald green eye burning with insanity beyond measure, shatter like glass.


	2. Memories

**1**

That excitement was short lived. Zach was returned to his blank room. There was only a bed, and a small window with iron bars through it. The girl returned to her bed, with nothing but silence. She returned to just staring at the ceiling, saying nothing. This time, nobody could get her to respond. Not even Zach. As a matter of fact, that was the first time she had ever spoken in at least a year- maybe two…

Zach definitely knew something was off about her. It didn't take a mad scientist to figure that out. But this time, he thought that there was more behind the girl's insanity than logically possible. He quickly shook the thought out of his head. _Everything _is explainable, even if not logical (That's an oxymoron, isn't it?). The former anthropologist was keeping a mental journal of her activities, but they always ended up somewhat like this- Day _, the girl next door is still inactive.

Alice lay motionless in the cold, hard bed. She overheard everything the nurses said about her. She would be put on the next helicopter to Rutledge Asylum within the week. She honestly didn't want to be moved; she wanted to stay put, and fight her insanity without any disturbances. She had also overheard that she was kidnapped, and that was how she ended up in America, but she had no recollection of that incident. She still slipped in and out of her 'dream world,' but she knew, even through the obscure lenses the strips of her sanity left her, this was only going to get worse. She would dream, whether awake or not. She would dream about that disastrous night- the one that started it all.

_"Mum?" Little Alice asked. "Dad?" She ran through the house. She smelled the toxic air, the scent of burning sent agony searing through her lungs. She was about to grab the small metal sphere that would open the door, when she heard their voices…_

_ "No, Alice!"_

_ "Get out of the house, Alice!"_

_ "Save yourself! Alice!" Her voice was screamed over and over again. She turned from the door, scared out of her mind. The next thing she knew, she was stung by the cold touch of snow. Glass was sprawled all over the place. The second floor window was shattered. The house was up in flames. Alice heard the cries of her only relatives, almost demonic, as the merciless fire consumed it all._

Alice thought about it. She thought, after 'dreaming' once again. The fact that had been knocking at her for so long- the fire ate up more than just her parents. It burned up her mind, the only walls to the second world she called home. Considering her insanity, it's only reasonable that she wouldn't notice until 4 years after the tragic event. But the thing she did not know, was that her imagination was so potent, that combined with her intoxicating madness, could become the horrifying reality that she lived with every day. And this time, just like the last, she wouldn't be able to save those who slept next door.


	3. Kidnapped?

**2**

She had gone through it before. When she was in Rutledge Asylum, she was trapped within her Wonderland, and had to destroy the very figure that embodied her insanity. She was able to move out, but like all things for a madman, the excitement was short lived. She was beginning to slip back in and out of her world. And even worse, she seemed to recall who kidnapped her… and sensed he was coming back.

It was the end of another day, and Zach Addy laid in his bed, the bright moonlight- his only light source. The girl next door, still inactive. He heard a faint, 'lights out', and the slamming of a door. He closed his eyes, trying to welcome sleep. This was day three since the girl was moved. It was Thursday, and Thursdays always presented an unlucky streak for Zach. Thursdays were the days when Hodgins and the others would choose to pull the worst pranks on him. It was the day when the Gormagon explosion blew his hands to bits. They were still sensitive, and the scars were large and visible. He wore gloves to protect the back of his wrists and palms. If that's not enough to convince you that Thursdays were problematic, tonight will change your mind (and if not, oh well, I tried).

It was the middle of the night. The full moon peering into Zach's room didn't allow him to get to sleep early. He was woken up by the clang of metal on the wall. Footsteps. The intruder stopped, right in front of his room. The door creaked open. Suddenly, he felt a metal staff crashing down on his head, knocking him down, but not out. He was stunned, but conscious. The hands that grabbed him were rough and inconsiderate. They handled him like he was a piece of garbage. He was slung over his kidnapper's shoulder. He then heard a sawing noise, and the cold wind pressing against his face. His stomach suddenly flipped as he felt himself falling, at least fifty feet down. _The ground… Not even my assailant could survive this…_ Zach thought. He braced himself.

_SPLASH!_

_ Water?_ The cold liquid seeped into Zach's open mouth and nose. It stung, more than water should. It felt almost acidic. The 'water' stung his lungs. The pain in his chest was excruciating. _Up!_ A voice screamed in his head. _Get up!_ The voice became more and more real. _WAKE UP!_

"Wake up!" A staff member screamed in his ear. "It's passed sunrise!" He slapped Zach in the cheek. He coughed up green water. His chest still hurt. "Oh shit…" the staff member muttered. "He's sick."

"Symptoms?"

"Hurling green stuff," the staff turned to Zach. "Anything else?"

"Chest pains…" Zach muttered. "Strange dream- err… nightmare,"

"Nightmare? Tell me."

"I was kidnapped by an unknown assailant. He took me, cut the window bars, jumped, and we landed in acidic water-" A hard cough cut him off. A thud came from the next room. The staff ran into her room.

Alice's nightstand was kicked over. She was still the motionless zombie like always. Her moving date was moved back a week, because of strange symptoms, such as vomiting and paling of the skin. Even though she was motionless and inscrutable, they could tell that she was having major trouble sleeping. She seemed to be disturbed by nightmares. It was evident that her physical condition was deteriorating rapidly, not just from her coma-like state, but she seemed to have been assaulted last night. There were scrapes on her arms. She didn't, and couldn't have done it herself.


	4. All the floooooowweeerrs

**3**

"Zach, you have a visitor." One of his nurses announced later that day. In came Hodgins. He was one of Zach's more frequent visitors, along side Angela.

"Hey there, Z-man. How's it going?" He asked. Zach sighed. "Oh… Well, it's great to see you."

"In a woooorld…" An extremely creepy voice stopped the two dead in their tracks. "Of my own…" It sounded almost zombie-like. It didn't seem human. "All the flllooooooweers… would have veerry extra special poooooowwers…" The voice sounded as if it was moaning out a song.

"What is that?" Hodgins asked warily. Zach shook his head in reply. He motioned for his friend to be silent.

"Theeey would sit… and talk to me for hooooouuuurrrs… When I'm loooooonnelyyyyy…." That last word sounded as if it had gone through a voice filter, and was extremely distorted. The tone was messy throughout the whole song. Only when it started to repeat itself, Zach realized it was Alice. The nurses noticed as well and came running into her room.

There she was, curled up in a ball, rocking back and fourth in the most remote corner of her room. "In a woooorld… of my ooowwnn…"

"Alice, stop it." The nurse ordered. She continued to moan the song. The nurse tried to pry her out of the position. The male staff member came back with a therapist. Alice looked up. All she saw was a-

"Why couldn't _you_ save us?"

"You selfish, misbegotten and unnatural child!"

"What was that?" Hodgins asked Zach.

"I really don't know. The girl next door, her name is Alice, is truly a madwoman." Zach replied. "In a way, she's very interesting." A scream erupted from the room. He and Hodgins burst out of the room and looked into Alice's, but found only a gaping hole in the floor. It seemed to lead down a vertical cave, with photos, doors, beds, lamps, and household appliances just floating around. Zach gasped as he saw these items erupt in flames, being swallowed by Alice's insanity. Bloody tentacles wrapped and crawled their way up the hole. And then, a figure in a red dress approached him. Her face was hidden behind a mask, and a tentacle was controlling her. The mask suddenly fell off, revealing the one face Zach hoped he'd never have to see again.

The Gormagon.


	5. Into his insanity

**4**

"Stay, and you will lose yourself forever!"

"Reject _only_ your ignorance, and you might survive…"

"You smelled the smoke!"

"You and this red queen cannot both survive, you're two parts of the same-"

"You're habitually late, aren't you?"

"Your room was spared, while your parents upstairs roasted in an inferno of incredible horror!"

"All pathetic attempts to reclaim your sanity have failed!"

All words that had been spoken through the broken speakers of her mind… these were only some of those words… and they were far from done with her. The red tentacles, her own blood vessels wrapped around her, and pulled her down, down, down. Alice was falling, falling down the twisted rabbit hole, yet again. She had made it once, but circumstances change. She prayed for help, a single person who would make things right again… And maybe, her prayers would be answered.

Visiting hours were over. Hodgins left. Zach was sitting on his bed, thinking about those tentacles, and the face. He buried his own face in his hands, but still wasn't able to shake the vision from his mind. He opened his eyes. Right in front of him was a man, half human, half beast. He had metal wings, and his torso was torn open. Instead of organs, there were gears. The blazing eyes glared holes through him. However, when it spoke, it did not seem to be talking to him, but at the same time, it did.

"You selfish, misbegotten and unnatural child!" Zach rose to his feet, completely ignoring the intense instinct to run, and challenged it.

"Who are you and what do you want with me?" That came out more as a stutter than a command.

"How foolish of you, to think that you could overcome your guilt!" The beast snarled. Those last few words were spat out in an invisible acid that shook the already shaken him to his core. The creature completely straightened out, and glared straight ahead. A purple beam of light shot out from his eye and hit Zach right above the knee. He cried out. Its huge hand came around and struck him in the side, breaking almost all of the ribs on his right side.

"Well done, apprentice." A voice hissed. It sounded masculine and feminine at the same time. Zach looked up. Through his blurry vision, he saw the female figure, with the horrid face. It was the Gormagon, and this beast was the newest apprentice.

"Save us, Zach!" He whipped his head around to face the picture of him and the other Squints, plus Agent Booth and of course, Dr. Brennan. The photo was talking to him. "Help us!" Angela called. "Zach!" Dr. Brennan exclaimed. Through all this, he could just hear the two demons laughing menacingly at his suffering.

The voice from the girl who he'd met the beginning of the week called to him. "Something's broken…"

"What is?" Zach responded.

"_I am_." Then the floor opened up and sent Zach tumbling into the pit of insanity, and not just his own.


	6. A Taste of Wonderland

**5**

Alice was laying on a lily pad, still allowing her cluttered mind to clear. When it did, she sat up, and looked around. The water was crystal clear; the gigantic flowers were all sorts of bright and gleeful colors. Mushrooms that possessed strange, yet fascinating colors and patterns also accompanied the flowers. The ever-familiar figure of the Cheshire cat, tattoos lined his blue, skin-like fur, looming over her.

"You again." Alice groaned. "Have you anything relevant to say?"

"The hero returns, but this world is opposite yours- the hero returns to zero until further notice." The cat's voice had not changed; it was still that velvet-y, extra creepy voice that guided her through Wonderland the first time.

"Ugh… that's not relevant at all."

"There is safety in numbers, Alice."

"Meaning?"

"Sometimes the path in front of you is an optional choice; other times, it's the only choice." Then the cat vaporized. A splash sounded behind Alice. She whipped her head around. Something had fallen into the calm pond, making beautiful ripples in the water that muddled her reflection.

"Hello?" Alice asked. A human-like figure launched out of the water, gripping a nearby lily pad. He was soaked to the bone and apparently, unable to swim. His hair looked more like a mop than hair. Alice almost laughed at this. She gracefully ran up to him, leaping from lily pad to lily pad. "Why good sir, you surely are a strange one."

The man looked up, almost in awe at the beautiful teenage girl offering him a hand. She hauled him out of the water and watched his clothes drip. "My name's Alice." Alice introduced herself.

"Dr. Zack Addy." The mop-headed stranger replied. "Former forensic anthropologist."

"That's quite a big word."

"Not really, anthropologist only has five syllables."

"The word from Mary Poppins has fourteen." Alice countered lightly.

"That's not an actual word." Smoke suddenly blew down on the two of them. Alice looked up. Zack jumped back when he saw the massive creature looking down on them.

"Relax, mister."

"Doctor," Zack corrected.

"He's a friend." Alice waved at the humongous caterpillar, smoking a pipe. "Caterpillar has helped me out of so many things in my life."

"Where are we?"

"You are in wonderland." The caterpillar replied. "A place of true wonder, hence the name. Eat a toadstool, and return to human size. Drink a potion, shrink to molecular size."

"That's impossible."

"Nothing's impossible in Wonderland." The word 'wonderland' almost sounded like it was choked out. Zack didn't pick up on it, and neither did Alice.

"Tell me, good friend. Why was the cat saying such strange things?" Alice asked. The caterpillar's face straightened. Huge moth-like wings sprung from his back. The design on his wings looked almost demonic. Teeth, eyes, and burning colors shone on the light powder. The caterpillar swooped down and opened his mouth wide. Inside were rows and rows of shark-like teeth. Zack grabbed Alice and ducked into the water. The monster missed, just barely.

Alice pulled the two of them back to the surface. The pond had become completely covered in mist. All of the flowers had died, along with the plants. Everything stank of rotting leaves and decomposition. The sky burned of bright orange, with ashes looming over everything. Birds that had been lit aflame were flying around aimlessly. Screams of anguish filled the burning canyon in the distance.

"What happened?" Zack warily asked.

"This is Wonderland." Alice hissed.

The clock struck noon. Alice, with her hair completely frazzled out and dirty, was sitting across from a gruesome man. He had a long nose, pale green skin, and jagged, rotting teeth. His eyes were squinted, and his clothing was erratic. The one thing that resembled something to Alice was his black, distorted hat. Again, the clock chimed. The Hatter jerked towards the girl, grabbed his teacup, and literally bit it to shreds. His broken teeth screeched against the clay; blood from his mouth sprayed everywhere. Then he cried out an order.

"Get her!" The teapot came to life, and a huge eye opened in the center. It sprung legs and lunged at Alice. She grabbed the steak knife, climbed on the table, and stabbed the beast in the eye, over and over and over and over. A warm, crimson liquid squirted out of the distorted figure, dripping off the insane one's dress, arms, and face. She looked up slightly- an eerie grin creeping from cheek to cheek.


	7. Deadly Reality Or is it?

**6**

Zack had no idea where he was or what time it was. All he knew was that the room was dark. He tried to get up, but found himself chained to the floor by excruciating pains. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw no lighting fixtures, just the iron barred windows, very much like the ones in his room. He tried to recall what had happened in between his weird dream and this. But as the facts began to reappear in his mind, he realized that he was still dreaming, or not dreaming at all. He tried to keep himself sane, counting, spelling, naming, anything that would prevent himself from screaming senselessly.

"He's awake," A voice grumbled from outside.

"Good, good." The door creaked open. Two men with bodies of playing cards approached the former anthropologist. They were each holding a very strange yet menacing looking weapon. The card on the right held a spear-like instrument with what looked like a combination of a can-opener and a lawn mower on the tip. The second one's spear looked like a drill and a sea urchin at the same time.

Zack's eyes widened when he noticed his own room, staring him down with death-like glares. He was still in the same position the horrid creature with the Gormagon's face had hit him. His chest hurt, as he remembered his broken ribs. The card people poked him in the arm.

"Where is Alice?" They demanded.

"In the room next door," Zack replied. He tried to turn over, but his body wouldn't allow it. All he could do was wince. The card guard signaled to his friend to check next door. Nothing. The one facing him took the spear and drove it into his arm. Zack cried out.

"She's not there."

"Last time I saw her, she was on a lily pad in a pond!" The spear was removed. "We were either really small, or the pond was really big." He explained as he cradled his arm.

"You will report this to the Queen." The other card guard growled. "Get up." Zack tried to obey, but shockwaves of pain were sent bursting through him. He collapsed again. "Get up!" The same guard slashed him across the side. There was blood everywhere. Crimson red stained his blue outfit, the bed, the nightstand, and the walls of his room.

"What's taking you so long?" The other card guard snapped.

"He's not moving."

"Just open another portal!" While the two were arguing, Zack looked around for a way out of this situation. He spied a ballpoint pen that had fallen under his bed months ago. Ignoring the pain, he reached under the bed, grabbed the pen, uncapped it, and stabbed the nearest card guard in the shin. It fell over, and he plunged the knife into its head. Blood sprayed on his face. The other guard had jumped into a portal.

_So this is what it's like to take a life…_ Zack thought. His innocence had been stolen long ago. The gloves and scars on his hands were a permanent reminder of his past actions. He blamed himself for what happened back then, but now, he didn't know right from wrong. _Killing in self-defense is not evil… if completely necessary…_ No matter how much he tried to reassure himself, he couldn't shake the feeling that a new layer of insanity had shrouded over him. He forced himself to sit upright against his bloodstained bed. He sunk into unconsciousness.

He woke up in the same position, with nurses and staff members fussing over him. The card guards were gone, but not his blood. It was still stained across the walls, the floors, and splotches of it were even on the ceiling.

"He's coming around!" One of the nurses exclaimed. She turned to him. "It's okay, Zack. Lie still. The paramedics are coming. Try to stay with me."

"I don't think my wounds are fatal." Zack rasped.

"You've lost too much blood already." A thought suddenly hit the young man.

"Where's Alice?" Just as he said that, another staff member rushed in.

"Alice is gone!"


	8. A Talk Of Sorts

**7**

"What?" Hodgins exclaimed. His eyes were wide in shock. Angela had her head bowed in sorrow. "What do you mean, 'Zack's in the hospital'? I was just there two days ago!"

"They don't know what happened, but they came in this morning to find that he had been stabbed in the arm and side, and almost all of his ribs were broken." Cam added.

"Wait, what happened?" Booth dashed into the office.

"Zack's in the hospital." Hodgins explained.

"Why?"

"We don't know yet." He turned to Dr. Brennan. "May I go visit him?"

"Well, we don't have a case right now, so I'd say a short visit is acceptable." She replied. Booth nodded. The whole team, minus those who had no idea who Zack was, packed into the car and drove to the hospital.

Zack was lying in the hospital bed, still unconscious. His left arm and torso had been bandaged. The heart-rate monitor was beeping. It was normal.

"What happened, Z-Man?" Hodgins asked.

"It's not like he can hear you," Dr. Brennan butted in. It took all his strength to keep from rolling his eyes at her.

"Bones," Booth silenced her before she could add onto what had already been said. She sighed.

"If I told you, you wouldn't believe me." Came Zack's voice. It seemed like he was awake when Hodgins had asked the question. He was just listening.

"Well, we believed it when it was revealed that you were the Gormagon's apprentice," Dr. Brennan countered. Booth glared at her. "What?"

"It started on Monday, when this new girl, Alice came to the institution. She seemed like she was brain dead, almost, and all she continued to say she was broken, literally broken. Then one Thursday night, someone came into my room, kidnapped me, and tried to jump out the window." Some people gasped and others just gave him a questioning look. "We landed in acidic water. The next morning, Hodgins visited, and then we heard Alice singing 'World of My Own'. After Hodgins left, I heard her scream, came into the room and saw… I have no other way of describing it, almost zombie-like dragon, and a woman in a red dress, with the face of the Master. A tentacle made of disconnected flesh pulled me into a hole."

He continued his wacky story, ignoring the shocked looks from the rest of his friends.

"Sweets?" Dr. Brennan leaned over to the psychiatrist.

"I can only say that Zack has gone insane." Sweets whispered back.

"For once, I agree." Zack spoke up. "The world Alice sent me to was beautiful, but then, birds resembling phoenixes burst out of the ground and destroyed the land. I lost Alice, and woke up in my room." He further explained the card guards, the interrogation. "And the rest you know."

"What a story," Hodgins whispered.

"That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard." Cam muttered. Sweets was studying Zack's expressions, hard. It had taken him half a year to even begin to understand the way the kid thought, let alone read his face.

"From what I can see," Sweets spoke up. "Zack is telling us his truth."

"The truth? Are you serious?" Angela scoffed.

"Not _the_ truth, _his_ truth, what he genuinely experienced. I think he really went to 'Wonderland'."

"In his head, right?"

"I don't know the circumstances, but I know he was there."

"I'm going back in about a day or so." Zack butted in.

"Excuse me?" Angela snapped. "You just broke 5 ribs and got skewered by men dressed as playing cards. Are you sure you should be going back so soon?"

"They say I only have two broken ribs, and the puncture wounds aren't serious."

"Not serious?" Hodgins added. "How is being sliced open by a lawn mower 'not serious'?"

"They think it's all in my head." Then they heard a phone buzz. Everyone turned to Agent Booth.

"Booth," He answered. Dr. Brennan's phone rang as well.

"Brennan," She mimicked.

"Something tells me we've got a case." Cam announced.

After his friends left, Zack resumed staring up at the ceiling into nothingness. Sleep started to pull at his mind. However, as soon as he closed his eyes, a face jumped at him. It was the face of a cat, a blue cat, skin lined with tattoos. It had a creepy smile with large teeth, and piercing eyes.

"Insanity is only insanity for so long until it becomes reality." The cat said. Zack gave it a strange look. "Imagination is a place that should only be traveled to if you're sure they will stay inside your head, and nowhere else. _Hers_ have gotten loose."

"I don't understand." Zack spoke up.

"Insanity is only insanity until it becomes reality. When it does, reality is imagination and imagination is reality."

"You're not making any sense."

"Reality, Zack. Reality! It has already become!" The cat vaporized, right after lightly brushing Zack's eyelids with his tail. Zack then slipped into a coma…


	9. Inside the Hatter's Lair

**8**

Holding the knife in her right hand, she paced forward. She was trapped inside the labyrinth of the Mad Hatter, yet again. And this time, the Gryphon wasn't there to help her. Her left hand held a peppershaker that was designed like a gun. A teapot appeared from around the corner. She fired ten rounds of pepper rocks before it was dead, in a mess of blood and shards of marble.

The Cat guided him through the maze of cliffs and pathways, leading into the Mad Hatter's lair. "From here, you must go on alone. I must go help Alice." Zack stared at the portal in the door ahead. _Is it like those movies when you go through one of those vortexes that you come out on the other side somewhere else?_ He wondered this for a minute, and then decided it was worth a try. He braced himself and ran right through it. He landed.

Alice was running like she had never run before. They were gaining on her.

He was running like he'd never run before. The Cat was getting farther and farther away.

She was running.

He was running.

They were both running. Down the same hallway… in opposite directions- they clashed heads.

"Get back!" Alice raised her knife.

"Don't!" Zack pleaded just as quickly.

"Dr. Addy?"

"Alice?"

"ATTACK!" The Mad Hatter's distorted voice echoed through the entire asylum-like dungeon, making it impossible to tell where it had come from. The creatures were picking up speed. A one-eyed baby doll, the other eye dangling from a spring in the socket, was coming right for them. Parts of its head were missing, and in some places, the plastic, like the eyes, dangled from their holes.

"Run!" Alice screamed. They were hyperventilating now. Zack slammed into the door. It wouldn't open.

"Now what?" He asked.

"Catch!" She immediately tossed him the peppershaker gun. Then she went in close range and slashed a teapot six times in the eye. Zack found a button on the handle of the shaker and pressed it. It fired seven rounds. The baby's plastic cover now looked more like a cheese grater. Pieces of plastic hung from their open holes. He moved around, firing more and more rounds. Then his foot slipped into a loose tile. The walls started to cave in, like a car compactor. The stairs around them began to squish and fall. However, the only way out was a door, all the way up those very stairs.

"Alice!" Zack pointed.

"Up there! It's our only way out!" She screamed.

"We'll never make it!" In reply, she pulled out a stopwatch and grabbed Zack's hand. Time suddenly came to a halt.

"Go! Quickly, the stopwatch doesn't last forever!" She shoved him hard. He started rushing up the stairs with her right behind. The stopwatch began slowly ticking again. Time was resuming. They were halfway there, when time resumed in full. The walls were coming in at about two miles per hour, but it was still too fast for them. The Grand hallway would be nothing but a pancake in a matter of minutes, and so would they if they didn't reach that door. Then Alice triggered a booby trap this time. She stepped on a faulty stair. The ceiling started to collapse. Actually, it released rocks from above. Those rocks would crush anything below them. A rock managed to hit a piece of stair right beside Zack. He started to fall, but Alice grabbed firmly onto his hand. She ran. Zack found his footing again and they both scaled the stairs. The wall was about to cover the door when Zack and Alice slid through. They heard the sickening crack of all living matter being crushed behind the door. However, when they turned around, all that faced them was a blank boarded wall. Alice even tested it to see if it was hollow, but it wasn't.

"So now what do we do?" Zack asked.

"We can't stay here forever! There has to be a way out!"

"I could always try to blast a wall open."

"You can't they're not hollow."

"Sometimes what you seek is not always at eye-level." The Cat's velvety voice came through the room. The sound waves bounced off the wall. Then the room started to move, but neither Zack nor Alice could see it. It felt like they were going up. The light bulb on the side of the wall started to flash.

"I think we're in an elevator." Zack whispered.

"No duh, genius." Then the door opened. They both prepared to fire. However, what was inside, they didn't expect at all. There was Dr. Brennan, Dr. Hodgins, and even Cam, strapped to some sort of contraption. Parts of their limbs had been replaced with gears and machinery. Zack ran up to help them, but Alice threw him down. "Don't touch them!"

"Why not?"

"They could be booby trapped!"

"Zack! Help us!" Dr. Brennan cried. Zack stared back at her. Then he realized something. He turned to Alice.

"Do you know these people?"

"No, why?"

"Then how are they~"

"How are they here?" The two of them turned around to face the Cat. "Remember what I said, Zack. Imagination is only so until it becomes reality, and vice versa. Soon enough, neither cat nor mouse will be able to tell which way the other's scent is coming from."

"So our pasts have both been melted into one Wonderland?" Alice clarified.

"You could say that."

"Or has the Wonderland become reality?" A loud clang of metal sounded from just around the corner.

"You can't stay! Her forces are everywhere. Beware the walls, for they have ears as well!" The cat vaporized.

"Get out of here, Z-man!" Hodgins choked. "It's too late for us; we're already part of this thing! Go, before you get stuck here too!"

"Move it!" Cam ordered.

"Come on! Run!" Alice grabbed a terrified Dr. Addy and forced him to run with her.

"We can't go back to the elevator! There's no place to go!"

"Zack! While he's not looking! Run around the corner!" Dr. Brennan called.

"Huh?"

"Trust me!"

"What do we do?"

"You don't know which way the scent is coming from. Don't do either. Find another way out." The Cat's voice echoed through Alice's head.

"Find some other way out!" Suddenly, the three lab rats began to laugh in a creepy tone.

"Hee…hee…hee… you can run… but you can't hide, Zacky!" Cam squealed. All sanity seemed to have been drained from their minds.

"The Master _will_ find you!" Hodgins rasped.

"Don't listen to them! Run for it!" Alice yelled as she jumped on top of a table. "There's an escape hatch up there!" She pointed to a ventilation system.

"But you don't know what could be in those vents!"

"It's better than suffering their fates!" She then motioned to the demented Jeffersonian team. Now, footsteps could be heard. They were slow and heavy, like something ten-times the size of what a human should be was approaching. As they were just about to get into the shaft, they saw the hideous face of the Mad Hatter. And it was true; he was ten-times the size of a normal human being. _He must have mutated since I last came here!_ Alice thought. The last time she saw him was at the tea table, gouging out the eye of the teapot. From then on, she was sent tumbling into the Hatter's castle, which still resembled the insane asylum that was Rutledge.

They crawled into the shaft, just as the Mad Hatter came in. He saw his three 'experiments' and scowled. He would finish them off later. Right now, he picked up the scent of fresh new blood that had to be updated like clockwork. He checked his beyond-repair wristwatch. The glass was broken and the face had been ripped away to reveal the gears behind it, which spun around at distorted angles and paces. To him, the clock read '6:00'. It was time for tea.


	10. The Infernal Train

**9**

Alice and Zack proceeded through the vent. However, as they continued on, the metal grew hotter and hotter. Soon enough, Alice had put her hand down on a scalding-hot plate. She jumped back, shaking her burning hand vigorously. Zack stopped dead in his tracks, not wanting to damage his hands further. They looked down to see a lava-filled room, run by a very small control 'cage' hovering over the entire thing. Inside the 'cage' was a 3-foot tall mouse. Its bottom half was completely replaced with gears and wheels. Where the skin met the machinery, the area was hollow. Inside its body were more gears and metal fragments. The mouse's fur was brown. Its eyes looked more like white marbles, hard, misty, and deathly blank. It vocalized mainly in lots of high-pitched, exhausted, tormented voice, slow and lagging. But that did not make it any less energetic. Good for Alice and Zack that they were hidden from view. But that would soon end. Alice screamed; she screamed like a banshee.

"Shush!" Zack hissed. Alice didn't seem to hear him.

"The- the train!" She gasped between screams. She was clutching her head with both her hands. If she pushed any harder, she'd break her skull open. "Make it stop!"

"But I don't know what that means!" She let out another caterwaul. Then the vents exploded. They both came tumbling down in a mess of limbs and wails. Alice stopped screaming and looked up with great effort. The mechanical mouse let out an eerie laugh. An eyepot was glaring at them. Pools of black slime formed all around the area. It was sticky to the touch, like maple syrup. "What is this?"

"Look out!" Alice yelled. Zack looked up to see the eyepot rearing up on its third leg, with its other two razor sharp limbs flailing. His reflexes were fast; he took the pepper grinder and fired away. But they stopped about ten seconds later.

"What happened?"

"It's overheating!" The eyepot slammed down, while the scientist kicked up against its underside. That dislodged it from its grip on the ground. Alice took her chance. She raked its eye over and over and over until it popped out of its metal socket. It landed in Zack's hands. He promptly put it down. The eyepot dismantled and crumbled to the ground. A rose petal and a red gem were left in its place.

"Hee hee hee hee heeeee…" The creepy mouse was still there. The two of them whirled around to face him. "You thought destroying my eyepot was enough… Hee hee hee hee!"

"Shut up you metallic scrap heap!" Alice retorted.

"Ooh… it has a temper! Aha ha ha haa!" Its face suddenly darkened. "Attack!" The black pools around them began to take a shape. Doll faces and doll limbs stuck to various spots. "Rabbit! Hold them!" Before Alice could spring into action, two metal hands grabbed her arms, holding her in place. Zack turned around to see a humanoid rabbit-like creature. A metal frame replaced one of its eyes, and its entire body from the torso down was made of loose springs and other things that could be found in this area.

"Zack, help!" Alice pleaded.

"But I don't know what to do!" Zack exclaimed.

"Help!" Suddenly, her body convulsed, as she began her screeching. It was enough to make the Gormagon seem like a dust mite. But the screeching of wheels drowned out her screeching and the yelling of the two mechanical beasts. They sounded like they hadn't been oiled in nearly a year. The wall suddenly burst open, revealing an inferno of incredible horror. It was indeed a train, but it was coughing and gagging on the flames that it bathed in. There were no tracks that it ran on; the wind seemed to be its road. The train sounded more like someone had left the breaks on and two drivers were fighting over where the train should be going. It proceeded onward at breakneck pace, all of its cars visible, and each and every one of them on fire. This was the train Alice was screaming about. Without thinking, he ran towards it and grabbed onto a railing in the last car. It burned his hands and his arms, but he would not let go. "Zack!" Alice cried.

"I'm coming back for you!" The anthropologist hoisted himself up onto the train and inside the car. The train busted through yet another wall and disappeared. Rabbit started to laugh in the same eerie way as the mouse.

"Nobody _ever_ gets off that train! Your friend is as good as dead!" Speaking of that vermin, where was the mouse? The answer literally lied on the ground, crushed to bits. The train had run over Rabbit's friend. And the damage that it had caused was enough to make a giant pipe crash down onto the long-eared abomination as well. The Hatter ran in, flabbergasted by what had occurred in here.

"Hatter, where is that train going?" Alice demanded, now free from the clutches of that wretch. One by one, the ceiling fell onto the doll-faced creatures.

"Wake up, wake up," The Hatter pleaded with his creations. "All I really wanted was another tea party!"

"Hatter!"

"We don't have time for whatever you want to talk about; it's time for tea!" He turned back to the Rabbit and the Mouse. He picked up a teacup and put it next to Rabbit's cold and dead mouth. "Come on, drink! Drink!"

"Hatter, you promised!" The Hatter turned back to her one last time to say,

"Talk trains with turtle! He runs them, after all!" He turned around and started to converse with the two in his lap, while the room continued to fall apart. A piece of the ceiling ended them. Alice's face was stitched with worry. Perhaps it was just an illusion, but she found herself engulfed in tea.

"I know hardly anything and I'm about to drown in tea- in ignorance…"


	11. A World of Memories

**10**

The first thing Zack did not understand was how the train sailed through the air like a plane. The second thing he did not understand was how he could no longer feel the inferno licking at the screeching wheels. The embers from said inferno shot upwards, marring visibility around, but things behind the smokescreen were still somewhat visible. And if it weren't for the urgent situation he was in, he would've been able to take in the beauty that those embers had created against a pale sky.

Instead, he turned to face the door of the caboose. Finding the door locked, he decided his next best option would've been to wait right there until the train stopped. But the inferno's heat was starting to return, and Zack did not want to risk his hands in yet another pyro session.

Looking around, he saw that there was a ladder climbing up and over the caboose. He tested the temperature of the metal with the back of his hand, and finding it to be cool, he began to ascend.

The roof of the caboose was a slight arch, so Zack knelt down on his hands and knees to avoid sliding off. He was about to crawl forward when the train screeched, turning sharply. He slammed down onto the roof, banging his forehead on the metal along the way. But the train had turned so sharply that he felt himself sliding. So he grabbed the nearest peg sticking out of the roof, only to find it to be a hatch. And pulling on it made it open. However, he was unable to move into it in this position, so he waited for the train to stop turning.

He figured the train must've spun in circles for at least ten minutes, because his hands were starting to rub raw, clinging onto that godforsaken metal all that time. But the train eventually found its bearings and returned to its original path. Consciously making an effort not to lament about how pointless this train's course was, he climbed back onto a sturdy position on the roof and slid into the caboose.

He landed rather clumsily before taking a look at his surroundings. The caboose was rather nice-looking. It had red leather booths, and little tables in between them. At each booth was a window, looking out at the beautiful embers.

"Admiring the view, Dr. Addy?" The voice made him jump and he whirled around to face a woman in a booth seat. She wasn't really visible since she had her back turned and was protected by the backrest. He blinked. She wasn't there a minute ago… Her voice seemed like a mix of a machine's and someone Zack knew, but he couldn't put a finger on it. The voice was too distorted to tell. He wanted to ask who this was, but the words couldn't find his mouth. "Corpse got your tongue?"

"I don't know what that means," Zack muttered.

"I don't blame you; neither would I. But you know, I haven't been feeling the same since you left."

"Who are you? You sound like you know me."

"Of course I do! What's her insanity is my insanity is your insanity." Zack raised an eyebrow. "It makes sense if you don't think about it."

"But in order for something to make sense, you have to think about it."

"Of course my prized student- err… I mean my _former_ prized student would think that way."

"Just who exactly are you?" Zack hollered. This was getting freaky.

"Just come here and see for yourself," the woman replied. Her tone was that of a parent comforting a child, much different than how she had just been conversing with Zack. Zack complied, and if he had been holding a plate when he saw her face, it would've been shattered on the ground in a million pieces.

"Doctor Brennan?" Zack breathed. _No, that can't be right…_ But it was right there in front of him. She was wearing an elegant and very regal-looking red dress with a high white collar. Her hands were on her lap, hidden from view under the table. A glint of gold came from beside her on the seat. But the strangest thing about her was the petite crown that floated absentmindedly over her head.

"Not exactly. You see, as I said, I haven't really been feeling myself lately." Zack didn't know how to respond to that. That was evident on his face. "Have a seat. It is not polite to stand over a queen."

"Q-queen?"

"You shouldn't ask questions you know the answer to; it's not polite. But yes, I am a queen. I am the Red Queen." Sensing the question forming at Zack's lips, she continued. "I said this before. Her insanity is my insanity is your insanity."

"That doesn't make sense."

"It's also rude to make someone repeat themselves. It makes sense if you don't think about it."

"Who is 'her'? It's not you, is it?"

"Of course not, stupid boy." The Queen's voice started to melt into a whole new voice. It took on a British accent. Zack blinked. The so-called 'queen' motioned towards the booth on the other end of the table. Zack reluctantly sat down.

"I have so many questions…"

"Be warned. Questions do not always hold the answer you seek, if they hold an answer at all."

**.o0o.**

Running: that was all she could register. She was now within the house of cards in the sky. She had gotten very far, and it had taken every ounce of energy she could spawn. She estimated that at least a few days had passed, but in her warped mind, time could very well be at a stand still. In her hand at that moment was the hobbyhorse, a metal horsehead on a stick for swinging and smashing. It was very heavy, and it did hinder her speed slightly, having to carry it around now. She had gone down a few twists, turns, and card slides, until she came across something special. It wasn't dangerous; it was familiar. A soft glow was shining in between the cards' openings. It was possibly a bottle, a memory, or some teeth. All three, she was sure, were useful, but she still hadn't found the purpose of the bottles.

She peeked under the seams in the cards to find a memory. However, this memory was glowing green, and it was in the form of a floating scalpel. She got up and found a lever nearby. Upon pulling it, the cards encircling the memory lifted, and she gained access to it.

As she always did, she gave the memory a poke, shattering it into fragments of light. However, the lights seemed to repel her rather than pull her in like they normally did. Even so, she was able to see into the memory. A woman's voice, one she had never heard before, spoke. The accent was also foreign to her.

"Yet, you risked it all to save Hodgins." She paused. The voice was getting faint. The memory was slipping. Looking up, she saw the floating particles starting to move away from her. She got up and chased after it, curiosity getting the better of her. When she finally managed to touch it again, she realized she had missed a few words.

"…Flaw in my logic."

"I need a name, Zack," A new voice spoke up. This one was big and bulky. But she recognized Zack's voice immediately.

"I don't know his na…" The memory was starting to go faster. Alice ran up to it again, this time, having to stay in a jog to keep up with it.

"…Where he lives. I was blindfolded, but I was able to calculate…" She broke into a sprint. "…Look it up online…" She was out of breath. She returned to her jog and soon stopped. The light fragments exploded into thin air. _Online_? What's that? Alice started to ponder what she had just heard.

Then she realized something. That memory lasted much longer than any of her broken memory shards. It played like a record, except for the fact that it got up and ran away. All at once, she realized jealousy starting to spark. That was Zack's memory, and his memories were full and complete- unlike hers.

Alice closed her eyes, leaning against a card wall. She pressed her hand into her forehead. Whatever Zack's life was before he entered the asylum was surely an exciting one. She could tell that much. But now, she had curiosity to feed. She now had one more reason to catch that train.

**.o0o.**

The Queen sat, staring at Zack. He was just about to ask her a question when he suddenly entered a trance-like state. He had his head in his hands, elbows resting on the table.

"What is the matter?" She asked in an almost caring tone. Zack's eyes were wide open and unseeing behind his gloved fingers. She continued to stare in a confused manner until he blinked. He removed his hands from his head and looked up at her. The Queen blinked. There was an expression of sadness and regret on his face. "Are you back?" She asked.

"I apologize; I was having a flashback," He stated rather dumbly. He was still in a bit of a daze. The Queen tilted her head and narrowed her eyes.

"That wasn't a normal flashback," she replied. He looked up at her.

"I wouldn't know," he involuntarily muttered. "I don't get flashbacks."

"That makes it all the more unusual."

"Then why am I having them?" He asked.

"This land is made of shattered memories from a broken spirit; it forages on memories, placing them together in a puzzle. Until now, it only had Alice's memories to feed off of."

"None of that makes sense!" Zack protested. The Queen suddenly jumped out of her seat, slamming her hands down on the table.

"Have you not been listening to a word I have said?" She thundered.

"I am only trying to understand!" The boy shot up, matching her aggressive stance.

"That is impossible unless you release your grip on rationality and logic!"

"I won't do that again! I've done it once and it did not end well." The train suddenly whistled as it took a nosedive into more distorted space. Zack doubled over the table while the Queen stayed motionless and collected in front of him. She merely turned her head and looked out the window.

"Are those friends of yours?" She asked. Zack righted himself and looked at her. He then followed her gaze out the window. A foggy image flashed in the glass. A man with curly brown hair was staring down. They were seeing this from a first person perspective; the man was staring down at the viewer. He had tiny whiskers around his chin, and his eyes were soft and focused. Zack blinked.

"Hodgins?" He murmured. He found himself so lost in the image that he was taken completely by surprise when he turned to the Queen and found no one there.

* * *

Hello there, it's been a while, hasn't it? I've been doing other things, and I've been hit with a bad case of writer's block. I've also been reflecting on my fanfiction style- I've decided to chill on the OC thing (don't worry, there will be no prominent OCs in this story, if any). That's been one of my biggest weaknesses. Also, for the writer's block thing, I have an idea of where this story will go in a while, but I'm still unsure about a central plot, let alone a climax. So if any of you readers out there have an idea for where this should go, send in a review or something.


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